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Can you believe that I go deleted from the off topic forum for posting this item?A German soldier wears the M1916 Stahlhelm and the M1917 Ledersch?tzmaske, the storage canister for the gas mask is suspended on a paper cloth strap; the tunic is a 1930s studio copy of the M1915 Bluse and the trousers are Swedish, due to the rarity of original trousers; the ID disc is suspended around his neck; The M1910 ammo pouches are on the M1895 belt with a M1915 buckle; on the belt beside the buckle is a close combat knife; the M1887 entrenching shovel is suspended from the belt on his left rear along with the bayonet scabbard; on the right hip is the M1887 bread bag with the M1915 water bottle suspended from the D ring; the leather boots are similar to German WWI March boots, but can be identified as Czech fireman's boots due to the external reinforcement at the back of the boots; this soldier is armed with the Mauser Kar98 with bayonet.

This German soldier wears the M1895 erstaz Pickelhaube with ?berzeug; the gas mask is a M1915 Gumimaske; the overcoat is the M1915 pattern; his ID disc can be seen around his neck with a bit of cord; The M1909 ammo pouches are on the M1895 belt with a M1915 buckle, a M1917 Stielhandgrenate is hung from the belt on the right and a Nahekampfmesser is suspended on the belt on the left of the buckle; he has a M1895 Tornister on his back with the M1910 mess tin strapped on; on his left hip is his entrenching shovel with the bayonet scabbard; on his right hip is the M1887 breadbag with the M1893 waterbottle attached; he is armed with the Gewehr M1898 with bayonet.

Austrian impressionHe is wearing the Austrian M1917 helmet similar to the German M1916; the gas mask is the M1916 patterned after the German M1915; the tunicis the M1915 field grey with matchin trousers of the same pattern; The ancle boots are topped with puttees (the left is a reproduction);the M1908 ammo pouches are supported by the belt wih a M1895 buckle; the haversack is slung on the left hip and supported by the belt, the canteen is carried in the haversack along with iron rations and personal items; on his back is the M1888 back pack with the mess tin strapped to it; the M1910 tranch shovel is hanging from the belt on his right hip; he is armed with the M1895 Steyr straight pull rifle with bayonet (the bayonet scabbard is carried on the left hip under the haversack.

Shown here is the uniform of Ferdinand Holzner of the Austrian KuK Tiroler Reit Kaiserssch?tzen; The cap is the peakless style common to mounted troops, it has the K rosette for Kaiser Karl and an Edelwei? tinnie dated 1914-1916; the tunic is an M1908 pike grey tunic with grass green collar and cuffs; the marksman's lanyard on the left breast is possibly German post war; the single ammo pouches are the style used by mounted troops with no provision for a knapsack strap; the belt is the style used by mounted troops and later by all troops; the trousers are pike grey with grass green piping; the water bottle slung on the right hip is in the leather carrier for mounted troops; and the soldier is armed with a Steyr M1895 carbine and bayonet.

"...I am not a re enactor, but I do some living history (the differance is that I sleep in a warm bed and eat hot food,) ..."

Gus,

I fear you and I must disagree about what constitutes "Living History" and what constitutes "Re-enactment"*.As I see it, it is the re-enactor who has the warm bed (or modern sleeping bag), eats 'out of period' and uses modern 'camping' furniture - regardless of the quality of their kit or impression.The 'Living Historian' is the one in for the 'total immersion' experience if possible not coming back to the present until the end of the muster - the aim being to LIVE the part.A number who would class themselves as 're-enactors' are really Living Historians, others merely 'thug and bash' powder burners.Perhaps this is just a European/US divide.

Regards

Tom (in London)

*This is probably the wrong place for this post, but I'll leave that to the moderators

Logged

God and the Soldier we adore in time of danger - Not beforeDanger past and all things rightedGod's forgotten, the Soldier slighted.

Hey Tom,You have a well presented point, but I think you will find that most of the people who post on this board who call themselves re enactors, are the kind who do the total immersion, that is, they eat authentic food, and shun any modern items that would make the night a little more comfortable. In this area, a living history is usually presented for the benefit of an audience. My uniforms are normally displayed on maniquins (also called dummies) and I often attend the display in period dress, and I often hear people say, "look, that dummy moves" and my wife laughs. There are two reasons I do not do the total immersion living history (or re enacting), I can not bring myself to counter a lifetime of teaching that one does not point a firearm at anyone unless you are prepaired to take their life, and there is no venue in my area. If I lived in the east, I would be very tempted to retrain myself. Best wihsesGus

Nice, Gustaf, thanks for sharing! Do you take all that with you to events? What do you do, take a bus for all the mannequins? It looks like a nice museum display!

Yes, we could argue about the difference between living history and reenacting forever and never agree. For a lot of people the terms are interchangeable. I think of reenacting as participating in a battle while living history is more interactive with patrons, whether at an outdoor camping event or in a historic house/museum. Where they slept or what they did after-hours makes no difference to me!

Hi lilkender,I do take this display to events, and it does take a fair bit of room to transport, the maniquins are of my own design and are fairly light so it is not too much trouble. I dismount the equipment and the more valuable garments, so the maniquins can be stacked on a bed in a camp trailer, my wife says that if I designed my maniquins with articulated legs, we could get a school bus and fill the seats.I see different sectors of history buffs sometimes look down their noses oa other groups, but we all are interested in the same thing, it is that some have more commitment to the studies, and those who have only a casual commitment often will become hard core with time. Best wishesGus

Wow, Gustav, where are you located? I found that I learned a lot about what was and couldn't have been done with regards to wearing the uniform and equipment by re-enacting WWI or being a living historian in WWI, what ever you prefer; but it takes having a different attitude than just "busting caps". After having done that, I felt much more confident setting up my displays, having actually used much of the equipment under simulated wartime conditions. It also added to my ability to talk to the public and tell them about the items and how they were used.

I especially like your Austrian display! I've thought of doing Austrian for years, and have some of the equipment, but not the Tornister; I may get there yet!